Classified hub tech in Hunt wheels is not quite news. But it’s not no-news either!

The reason I say it isn’t news is because this was actually publicised last week. You can now pre-order Hunt Wheels with the Classified Powershift ready hub shell, a potentially significant move given Hunt trade in the value for money arena. The wheelsets available with Classified Powershift-ready hub shells are the carbon Hunt 40 Gravel Race wheelset and the Hunt 48 Limitless Aero wheelset.

For £949 you actually get a wheelset that is unusable, at least until you plug in the Powershift kit from Classified. According the the Classified website, that’s another €1299 so you are looking at a £2k-plus wheelset. That’s an investment for sure and stretches the value for money idea quite far!

What is the Classfied Powershift system?

About two years ago I highlighted it was available on the Rose Backroad from Rose Bikes. The Classified Powershift system is a 2 speed internal hub gear that effectively replaces the front chainrings on a traditional 2x set-up. The system is sealed for life, needs no maintenance and is actuated via a bluetooth signal from the handlebars.

This is quite a novel approach and in theory allows the closer gears of a 2x system with the packaging benefits of a 1x setup. You might say there’s aero benefits where some others might say space for bigger tyres. Hence the gravel and road applications thus far.

Classified claim to be working on an MTB version which I suppose might find best application on racy XC bikes. If widely adopted you could alternately find we move back to smaller cassettes with shorter chain and derailleur cages instead and still get the wide gear range of todays bikes. Not to mention tougher drivetrains.

Still, it’s hard to get past the initial cost at this point. We’ll have to see how things evolve but Classified are building up quite a head of steam in the industry and we could find prices drop if sales volumes increase. An association with well-priced after market sales specialist Hunt suggests the potential for this at least.

It’s also worth noting there is no mention of this on the Classified site. I can’t tell if this is the editorial team being slow to update or if it is simply that Hunt are not one of Classified’s ‘official’ partners, which include Enve, Mavic, Fast Forward, Reynolds, Boyd and Spinergy.

Two years on from my first Classified story they have certainly moved on. But we still need to watch this space…

About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.